Made with fresh strawberries and canned pineapple, this easy homemade strawberry topping is so delicious and will whip up in minutes. Use it on ice cream, cake, cheesecake, and more!
This strawberry sauce is the bomb! It’s so good. I wanted to use those last delicious fresh strawberries of the season and so decided to make strawberry banana ice cream with fresh homemade strawberry topping!
I used a trick my mom taught me when I was younger – to sugar the strawberries the night before to make them a little softer, yet not gushy, and bursting with flavor!
Table of contents
For some other great vegan toppings and sweet sauces try:
- The Fudgiest Vegan Chocolate Sauce
- Vegan Homemade Salted Caramel sauce
- Coconut Date Syrup
- Lime-Mint White Balsamic Reduction
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Ingredients needed to make homemade strawberry topping:
- fresh strawberries
- sugar (white)
- canned crushed pineapple in juice
- a pinch of salt
- (and a secret ingredient) orange extract
- If you can’t find orange extract you can sub in a little orange zest.
- You’ll also need either an immersion (hand-held) blender or a regular blender.
How to make homemade strawberry topping:
First start out by sugaring the cut strawberries. You will need to put the sugared strawberries in a tightly closed container overnight – or for at least six hours. The longer they sit in the sugar, the better.
Do I need to cut the strawberries?
Yes you do! We are going to blend the berries before cooking on the stovetop, so you might not think they need to be cut beforehand. Cutting the berries gives a greater surface to sugar ratio. When you check on your sugared strawberries hours later, you will see that they have begun to slightly liquify. Cutting the berries allows that to happed a little quicker.
There will still be some sugar that hasn’t dissolved yet. Scrape it off the bottom and stir it in the best you can.
Next, add the sugared strawberries, along with any liquid and undissolved sugar to a medium-sized sauce pan.
Add the canned crushed pineapple along with its juice, the cornstarch, pinch of salt and orange extract to the sauce pan.
If you can’t find orange extract then add in a little orange zest. You only need a little bit. You won’t really taste the orange; but it will lend a depth of flavor that makes this strawberry sauce over-the-top special.
I also used orange extract in my Cranberry Bliss Bars if you are looking for another yummy use!
Then with a hand (stick) immersion blender, blend the ingredients together. There should still be a few little chunks of strawberries left so don’t blend it so high or long that you totally lose the little pieces of fruit!
Blend until all the the cornstarch is totally blended in. While you do want pieces of fruit, you don’t want pieces of cornstarch!
What if I don’t have an immersion blender?
Not a problem! Just blend in your regular blender on low in starts and stops, only enough to blend in the cornstarch and liquify some of the fruit.
Turn the heat on to med/high and bring the strawberry sauce to a boil while occasionally scrapping and stirring.
Then turn down to medium and continue to scrape and stir for two minutes. The sauce will suddenly get a little darker when the cornstarch is cooked and the mixture will thicken.
Serving and storing the homemade strawberry topping:
This makes about three-and-a-half cups, so either pour into a quart jar or two pint jars.
Keep this strawberry sauce in the fridge in a tightly closed container for a week.
This strawberry topping will also freeze. Just make sure there’s as little head-space in the freezer-safe container you use, because it will expand as it freezes. Thaw in the refrigerator or you can partially thaw and then use the microwave to finish the job!
Serving suggestions:
- The creamiest Vegan Sweet Cream Ice Cream
- Strawberry Banana Ice Cream – Vegan with Coconut Milk
- Devil’s Food Cake (coming soon)
And now for the recipe:
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Easy Homemade Strawberry Topping with Fresh Strawberries and Pineapple
Equipment
- hand blender
- saucepan
- stove top
Ingredients
- 1 pound strawberries
- 1 cup granulated (white) sugar
- 8 ounces crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon orange extract
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Wash strawberries and cut into fourths. Place in a container with a lid.Pour sugar on top and toss around to coat. Put the lid on and place in the refrigerator for at least six hours or overnight.
- Take the sugared strawberries out of the refrigerator. Some of the sugar will have liquified and some will still be granulated at the bottom of the container. Stir around to loosen the granulated sugar, scaping te the bottom of the container.
- Add the strawberries with liquid and sugar to a medium-sized saucepan. Add the undrained crushed pineapple with juice, cornstarch, orange extract, and a pinch of salt to the saucepan.
- With a hand/stick blender, blend together the ingredients in the saucepan until the cornstarch is blended in and there are only small chunks of strawberries remaining. If you don't have a hand blender, you can put the ingredients into a countertop blender and blend on low in starts and stops. You just want to mix together and break the strawberries down smaller. You still want some small strawberry chunks. You don't want to totally liquefy the mixture.
- Turn the stove onto med/high and lightly stir until it comes to a boil. Turn down to medium and continue to stir and scrape the bottom of the saucepan for about two minutes. The mixture will be thickened and bubbly.
- Remove from heat and pour into mason jars or something similar. The strawberry topping will continue to thicken slightly as it cools. You can serve warm or cold.
Awesome recipe, is now a staple in my refrigerator.